Juhua stood to the side with a smile, watching Zhang Huai unload the cart. He led the ox to one side, opened the cart's gate to reveal the blue bricks inside, then glanced at her with a grin and asked softly, "What did you do at home today?"
Juhua smiled. "We went to the round pond to pick water bamboo shoots today. Changxing and Sanshun went down in a big wooden tub to pick them. It was a lot of fun. I've boiled the mature ones, and they'll be ready to eat soon."
Zhang Huai lifted a stack of five blue bricks and smiled. "Perfect, I'm hungry." As he spoke, he motioned for Juhua to step aside. "I'll stack the bricks and tiles at the base of your family's courtyard wall. It'll save me the trouble of unloading them at my place and then having to carry them over to the mountainside later."
